Neology | Marketing Communications

Ok, so let’s assume you have hook for your trade show and you know what your story will be (see my last post about that). Your idea is to launch a new product and to show why it’s better than the competitors. Your goal is to walk away with a few hundred solid leads. So what now?

Now it’s time for tactics, and one of the first things you’ll want to consider is your booth.

Location. Location. Location.

Like a storeowner, one of the first tasks you’ll want to complete is deciding on the size of, and location of, your booth. Ask the show coordinators for the most recent floor plan and discuss with them how traffic is intended to flow at the show. Floor plans are not always up-to-date, so also ask whether all the spaces that are shown on the plan as occupied are really taken. If the choices you have are not optimal, be sure to tell the coordinator which booths you’d like to have if another company’s space falls through. Sometimes you can get some real gems when other companies decide to back out.

Make Them Gawk

Trade shows are crowded places. No matter what kind of space you have – a 10×10, 10×20, 20×20 Island – make sure you grab the attention of those walking by your “store front”. This can be done in any number of ways. In the animation industry, great graphics and great demo reels can certainly help this cause. So too can unique booth design features. At one show, I created a theater as part of a 10×20 space, complete with curtains and marquee. The number of people trying to peak inside the curtains was almost comical.

You can also use unique or interesting give-aways to draw attention. We once used condoms to communicate the idea of protecting assets (to promote a digital asset management solution). The give-aways were the talk of the show.

It’s Not What You Sell, It’s How You Sell It

If your product requires content to demonstrate its benefits, start putting that content together long before the show begins. If you create something really compelling, make sure that content is as visible as possible. This will require some careful booth planning, but it will pay off.

One of my clients once created a video that we placed on a huge screen within the booth. It was the only graphic we had and it was visible to everyone walking by. The content was so mind blowing, it was videotaped by numerous people at the show and generated over 1 million views on YouTube.  The impact of that video lasted for months and included calls from Rolling Stone, The Times of London and others.

Draw Them In

Compelling graphics might make people stop, but your booth and your employees will draw them in. In the example above, the video stopped people. But it was our alert and friendly team that brought people into the booth to give demos and more information.

Surround Sound

Most companies have partners. If your partners will be exhibiting at the show, reach out to them to see if you can work together. This will help your message reach your audience from many different directions and depending on the size of the partner, it may also add to your credibility. Ask if you can demonstrate your product in their booth, or be part of their promotional material. You will probably have to give something in return, so be prepared to reciprocate.

This just scratches the surfaces of things to think about, but it’s enough to get you started. In the next post, I’ll discuss ways to get people to come to your booth with pre-show marketing.